JLog is a specialist logistics company in Cape Town that ships fragile, high-value items — artwork, designer furniture, ceramics, and luxury goods — both domestically within South Africa and internationally to galleries, collectors, and clients around the world. As the official logistics carrier for the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, we’ve built our entire operation around the principle that damage is not an option.

This guide shares what we’ve learned from years of shipping items that cannot be replaced. Whether you’re a gallery sending a painting to a collector in London, a furniture maker exporting a dining table to Dubai, or a ceramicist shipping a commission to New York, the fundamentals are the same.

Why Fragile Shipping Is Different

A standard courier treats every box the same. It goes on a conveyor belt, gets stacked in a truck, gets loaded onto a plane, goes through another sorting facility, and eventually arrives at your door. At every transfer point, your package gets handled — sometimes carefully, sometimes not.

For a box of shoes, this is fine. For a R250,000 painting or a one-of-a-kind ceramic sculpture, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Fragile items face three specific threats in transit: impact (drops and knocks), vibration (constant micro-movements during transport), and environmental damage (moisture, temperature changes, and dust).

The solution isn’t just putting “FRAGILE” stickers on a box — studies have shown those stickers make almost no difference. The solution is proper packaging that protects the item regardless of how it’s handled.

The Right Packaging for Each Item Type

Paintings and Framed Artwork

For international shipments, paintings need a custom-built wooden crate. At JLog, we build crates from 9mm or 12mm marine plywood — the exact thickness depends on the size and weight of the work. The inside is lined with closed-cell polyethylene foam (Ethafoam), which cushions the artwork and absorbs impact.

Before going into the crate, the painting gets wrapped in acid-free tissue paper (to protect the surface), then layered in foam sheeting. Corner protectors go on every corner of the frame. The painting is then secured inside the crate so it can’t shift during transit — any movement inside the crate is movement that can cause damage.

One critical detail: never wrap bubble wrap directly against the surface of a painting. The pressure from the bubbles can leave circular impressions on canvas. Tissue first, then foam, then bubble wrap on the outside if needed.

For domestic shipping within South Africa, blanket wrap is usually sufficient for framed works. This means moving blankets secured with packing tape, with cardboard edge protectors on the corners. JLog uses blanket wrap for local gallery deliveries and Art Fair moves where items travel in our own vehicles under controlled conditions.

Sculpture and Three-Dimensional Work

Sculptures are the hardest items to ship because they have protruding elements, uneven weight distribution, and often fragile surfaces. Every sculpture needs a crate with internal supports custom-built to its exact shape.

The standard approach: carve or cut foam blocks to cradle the sculpture at its heaviest points, then secure these blocks inside the crate. The sculpture should “float” on foam — it shouldn’t touch the crate walls at any point. For particularly valuable or fragile pieces, we build a double-wall crate with an air gap between the inner and outer walls for additional shock absorption.

Designer Furniture

Furniture presents unique challenges because of its size and the variety of materials involved. A single piece might combine wood, glass, metal, and upholstery — each needing different protection.

Glass tabletops get removed and packed separately in custom foam-lined compartments. Legs get wrapped individually and braced to prevent leverage damage. Upholstered surfaces get covered with furniture blankets and then shrink-wrapped to keep moisture out. For international shipping, the entire piece goes into a wooden crate built to its exact dimensions — with at least 50mm of foam clearance on all sides.

JLog ships furniture for Cape Town design studios like leading Cape Town furniture makers — bespoke pieces that can take months to make and can’t be remade quickly. The crating for a single dining table can take half a day to build properly. It’s that important.

Ceramics and Glass

Ceramics are unforgiving — they don’t bend, they don’t flex, they just break. Every ceramic piece needs individual wrapping: tissue first, then foam, then placement in a compartmented crate where no piece can touch another.

For multiple ceramics, we build crates with internal foam dividers — essentially creating individual compartments for each piece. The foam must be dense enough to prevent movement but soft enough to absorb impact. We use a combination of polyethylene foam (for structure) and polyurethane foam (for cushioning).

Hollow ceramics like vases need internal packing too — acid-free tissue paper scrunched inside to prevent the walls from vibrating and cracking during transit.

Materials That Matter

Not all packaging materials are equal. Here’s what we use and why:

One thing you’ll notice we don’t mention: newspaper. Never use newspaper for packing artwork or high-value items. The ink transfers to surfaces and the paper offers almost no cushioning. It’s fine for packing a kitchen move — not for anything you care about.

The Six Most Common Mistakes

After shipping thousands of fragile items, these are the mistakes we see most often — usually from clients who’ve tried to pack items themselves before calling us.

1. Not enough clearance inside the crate. There must be at least 50mm (ideally 75mm) of foam between the item and the crate wall on every side. If the crate gets dropped, that foam is the only thing between your item and a hard surface.

2. Bubble wrap directly on painted surfaces. As mentioned above, bubble wrap leaves impressions. Use tissue or foam sheeting against the surface, then bubble wrap on the outside.

3. Overweight crates without proper handles or lifting points. A crate that weighs 80kg needs handles, stencilled “TEAM LIFT” markings, and ideally a pallet base so it can be moved by forklift. Without these, handlers improvise — and improvisation leads to drops.

4. No condition report before shipping. Always photograph every item from multiple angles before packing, and note any existing damage. Without this documentation, you can’t prove that damage happened in transit — which means insurance claims become impossible. JLog photographs every item we pack, and that documentation is logged in our tracking system.

5. Shipping without transit insurance. Standard carrier liability covers around R200 per kilogram. That means a 5kg painting valued at R250,000 would be covered for R1,000 — less than half a percent of its value. Comprehensive transit insurance through a specialist like Alpec typically costs 1.5-3% of the declared value and covers the full replacement amount. For a R250,000 painting, that’s R3,750-R7,500 for full cover. JLog arranges insurance on every shipment we handle.

6. Using the wrong courier. Not every courier handles fragile items well. FedEx and DHL have specialist handling programmes for high-value goods, including priority loading (your crate goes in last and comes out first) and reduced transfer points. Generic couriers and consolidators often stack fragile crates under heavier items. JLog ships exclusively through FedEx and DHL for international, and uses our own vehicles for Cape Town deliveries — because we control the handling at every point.

What It Costs

Pricing for fragile shipping depends on three things: the packaging complexity, the item’s size and weight, and the destination. Here are general ranges for shipping from Cape Town (as of March 2026):

Yes, specialist shipping costs more than throwing something in a standard courier box. But consider the alternative: a R250,000 painting arrives with a cracked frame and torn canvas. The insurance claim takes months. The artist may not be able to recreate the work. The collector loses trust. The gallery loses a sale. The cost of doing it right is always less than the cost of doing it wrong.

How the Process Works with JLog

When you contact JLog to ship a fragile item, here’s what happens:

First, we get the details — item description, dimensions, weight, value, origin, destination. We send you an all-inclusive quote covering collection, packaging, courier, documentation, and optional insurance. Quotes typically go out within two hours of your enquiry.

Once you approve, we schedule collection. Our team arrives with the right materials for your item. We photograph everything, pack on-site or take the item to our Woodstock workshop for crating, and prepare all shipping documentation including customs paperwork for international shipments.

You get a tracking number and real-time updates through the JLog platform. We monitor every shipment from collection to delivery, and we’re proactive about flagging any issues — customs holds, weather delays, carrier exceptions — before you have to ask.

For white-glove deliveries in Cape Town, our team handles the final delivery including unpacking, positioning, and wall mounting for artwork. We take the packaging away with us.

The Bottom Line

Shipping fragile items is not complicated, but it is precise. The difference between a safe arrival and a damage claim comes down to the right materials, the right method, and the right carrier. If you’re shipping something that matters — whether it’s a painting worth R500,000 or a ceramic mug worth R500 — the principles are the same: protect the surface, cushion against impact, prevent movement inside the package, and use a carrier that treats fragile goods differently from standard parcels.

JLog exists because generic couriers don’t offer this level of care. If you need to ship something fragile from Cape Town — or to Cape Town — we’d be happy to help.